Asian Representation

If you've been following this blog for a little bit, you'll realize that I love bringing attention to Asian Christian authors. This mostly stems from being an Asian Christian myself, and celebrating that there seems to be more Christian authors now who are Asian than I have noticed in years past.

Why does representation matter so much to me? When I first became a Christian, I feared that being Chinese would be a hindrance to being a disciple of Jesus Christ, especially coming from a non-Christian background. It may sound silly, but I was genuinely concerned about how to grow in my walk with God because I did not see a lot of Christian books at the time address the topic of reconciling Chinese or Asian identity and its cultural traditions with following Jesus (and avoiding the trap of syncretism that I initially and mistakenly fell into).

I've since written one of my theses on how our ethnicity affects our faith, but at the time, I had so many questions as a young Christian. One of the most helpful things to me during that period of uncertainty was finally discovering books by Asian believers. I've since been on the lookout for more Asian Christian authors because I want to do everything I can to elevate their voices and help others who may have faced the same struggles that I had.

Some of the Christian non-fiction books from Asian authors that have meant the most to me include:

• Following Jesus Without Dishonoring Your Parents by Jeanette Yep (coordinator), Peter Cha, Susan Cho Van Riesen, Greg Jao, and Paul Tokunaga
• More Than Serving Tea: Asian American Women on Expectations, Relationships, Leadership and Faith by Nikki A. Toyama and Tracey Gee (editors); Kathy Khang, Christie Heller de Leon, and Asifa Dean; and Jeanette Yep (consulting editor)
• Invitation to Lead: Guidance for Emerging Asian American Leaders by Paul Tokunaga
• Losing Face and Finding Grace: 12 Bible Studies for Asian Americans by Tom Lin

To this day, I am indebted to InterVarsity Press for publishing these titles. Not only did I better understand the intellectual struggles I was going through, I believe that I became a better disciple of Jesus Christ as a result of understanding that who God created me to be was very much deliberate, and not an accident at all. I now see my Asian identity as contributing toward the full image of God that is exhibited in all the nations of the earth. I look forward to the day when the following scene in Revelation 7:9-10 will take place:

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”

As the world becomes increasingly diverse and we get to rub shoulders with people from all corners of the earth, I am reminded of how incredible it is that we can see how God is working in all the nations and reflecting His glory in the lives of believers from all cultural backgrounds. I love what Paul Tokunaga shares in Following Jesus Without Dishonoring Your Parents:

Thankfully, God is no cookie-cutter creator. Each person, as well as each culture, is unique. Culture is not "gospel-neutral." We must always examine our culture in the light of God's word. As we do that, it will be clear that there are some aspects that are consistent with the Christian faith and some that work against it.

Though I have learnt to abandon many practices in the Chinese culture that are directly tied to folk religion like ancestor worship, I have also learnt to embrace that I bring a different "flavour" to being Christian by virtue of having grown up with other cultural traditions. Being in a mixed-culture marriage has also opened my eyes to how different is not always wrong, it's merely different. As I continue to grow in my faith, I marvel at how my ethnicity and cultural background don't have to define me. They can describe aspects of me, but at the end of the day, I simply come to God's throne as a redeemed, born again believer who has clung to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for my salvation and eternal life. My identity is in Him.